There is a growing grassroots effort underway to simply send a clear message to the government and utility companies, that the residents of Israel are fed up, unwilling to continue living with regular price hikes. Those involved in the move told Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet Radio Host Yaron Dekel that it has reached and surpassed the absurd, that every few months the price of electricity increases, now at a point where too many working people cannot even afford to heat their homes during the winter months.
Towards driving the message home, they are planning a first protest this Wednesday evening, February 1, 2012. Organizers are calling on everyone around the country to turn off all their electricity at 19:00 and at 19:15, turn on every electrical appliance they have in the hope of crippling Israel Electric.
They feel that today, something this drastic is required to get the message across to utility companies and elected officials.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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The reality is that virtually all of the recent rate increases imposed by chevrat ha’chashmal have been the result of higher fuel prices. Unfortunately, EY has very little domestic oil/gas production and zero coal so almost all of the fuel used for its generation plants is imported at world prices. While the use of renewable energy has increased, it still accounts for a tiny fractio of total energy generation and it costs even more (when capital costs are included) than fossil fuel generation. Also, there is a need for major upgrades to the transmission network. So, notwithstanding these simple minded protests, the costs are only going to keep going up until there the new natural gas fields off the coast come into large scale production and new gas-burning power plants are completed.
What a moronic idea! WE’LL be the ones crippled, not the electric company.
I, too, am disgusted at their greed. I suggest that every homeowner that can should put solar panels on their roof. With the money they save in electricity, the panels should be paid for in four years.
Why not try? and break some of the Israeli monopolies.